Confidential nature of admission process (rant)

Question

Hi,

Has anyone tried getting feedback from the admission committee after rejection? The "confidential nature of the admission process" seems extremely strange, especially in today's world! There's something ugly, un-business-like about it, if I may say so.

I understand that there's an excess demand for good MBA schools, and with most focus on branding (and may be on education), there's hardly any incentive to improve the "admission process". There's got to be some school that would break the mould here.

I'm happy to pay more money if a school would just tell me the reasons of rejection of an application. This would tell me exactly if and when should I apply again, which would result in better applications and hence should be good for the school.

Sorry for the rant (and incoherent thoughts). But I'm quite sure that it's not quite a unique sentiment. If there's a b-school representative here, would love to hear her thoughts on what exactly is being kept confidential here (public availability of which would be detrimental to the school).

best
r

AlexMBAApply · Answer

Getting feedback from an adcom is sort of like asking your ex- why he/she broke up with you.

It'll come down to one of three things:

(1) It's obvious and specific (which you know already) - for example if you know that your GMAT sucked or you were too young/too old, then that was probably a big factor

(2) It's something they're not willing to say because it will be too hurtful or insulting (i.e. you were boring/dull, you came across as a dork or a douche) - none of these value judgments will really help you; yes they're subjective value judgments, but that's what it comes down to when there's way more people of a similar caliber than there are seats available

(3) They can't really pinpoint specifics; they just *know* they've lost interest (in admissions, oftentimes it's not some specific thing they can identify; it's just that they liked other applicants more than you).

Admissions as you know is a very subjective process. They're trying to choose a subset of folks from a pool of people who are very comparable in caliber.

It's not some scientific process where adcoms are notating or justifying their decision in excruciating detail. They can reject you or accept you for ANY reason or NO reason - and as a result the written feedback on the application could be detailed or cryptic - either way, their decision is final.

Again, admissions is NOT an analytical, scientific process (and it really can't be, unless you want b-school to be even more douchey than its reputation already is to non-MBAs in the working world). It's based more on feel and instinct than the adcoms would ever want to publicly admit.

So unless if it's blindingly obvious (i.e. your GMAT was way below average), then they're not willing to say stuff that could come across as insulting or hurtful.

In many respects, it's analogous to dating -- with the adcom being the woman and the applicant the man. Sometimes, there's specific reasons why the gal will run away from you. Other times, there's nothing wrong with you that she could identify - she just found another guy who she liked more.

minime2 · Answer

Good point Alex.

However, in that case I think schools should refrain from giving feedback. Banal responses like "your GMAT was low" does more harm than good. International students particularly are less aware of the subjective nature of B-school admission. Moreover, they may not have access to alumni or informed consultants. Often times, their information is based off what the adcoms tell them at information sessions and what they see on forums.

Oh Man...You tell an Indian dude that everything on his profile was good except his 720 GMAT which was juust average...Maaaan he is going to F@#* the S@@t out of GMAT till he scores 810. ( I am desi and used to think like this before figuring things out!!)

Its one thing for a chick to not give any reason before walking out on her dude....quite another lying to him that she would except him if he got a lipo and lost 30lb... That is just cruel...That chick needs to be put IN HER PLACE :evil:

Jerz · Answer

Which is precisely the main reason why the schools don't give feedback.

One other point that Alex didn't mention is time. Take a school like Kellogg. Each year, over 5,000 applicants don't get accepted. Even assuming only 50% of those people want feedback (which is probably on the low end), and that a feedback discussion would be 15 minutes (which also is probably on the low end), you're looking at over 600 hours of adcom time just devoted to giving feedback to rejected applicants. That's roughly equivalent to one full time adcom making phone calls every minute of the day during business hours   for four months straight.

Even if adcom could give feedback that would be helpful - which they usually can't - it would place a huge burden on their resources, which just isn't worth the tiny, tiny blip they'd get from a PR perspective by doing it.

minime2 · Answer

Well some schools (e.g. UNC and some others) do provide feedback. My point was that they shouldn't. As you said it does no good to the rejected applicant and wastes the adcom time.

staind · Answer

What makes you think that ad coms give false feedback? Did someone with a 720 actually receive feedback that their score was too low or was that a hypothetical comment?

Also, is the feedback initiated by the school or on the applicant's request?

minime2 · Answer

I don't think adcoms give false feedback. I was responding to Alex point (2) where he said that the adcoms might be unwilling to say something because it is hurful(but true).

Someone with 720 was told that the score was average and a higher score would have helped. I dont know who initiated the feedback request. Check out UNC's wesite to see how the feedback is initiated.

Praetorian · Answer

On the topic of adcoms, this is a popular thread: bad-attitude-41610.html

Confidential nature of admission process (rant)

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